Camouflage garments have long been used by soldiers, hunters and other outdoorsmen. Originally, such fabrics included a coloring selected to make the wearer hard to distinguish from his surroundings. In that regard, camouflage fabrics often include colorings in greens and browns for forest areas or beige/brown for drier surroundings. An early improvement in connection with camouflage garments involved the recognition that it is desirable to not merely match the coloring of the expected surroundings but also to obscure shapes. Accordingly, camouflage garments also typically contain a pattern that tends to obscure the outline of the wearer, enabling the wearer to move through various environments with reduced risk of detection.
More recently, it has been recognized that three-dimensional camouflage garments enhance the camouflage effect. In particular, a flat fabric, even if well colored to match the surroundings and patterned to obscure outlines of the wearer, may allow animals to detect the human outline. In turn, some manufacturers have begun to offer three-dimensional camouflage garments. Typically, these garments are manufactured by attaching fabric strips to a base garment to provide the three-dimensional effect. For example, strips of fabric may be sewed to the base garment along vertical stitch lines; that is, stitch lines that are generally parallel to the inseam seams of pants or side seams of jackets. One problem associated with the use of vertical stitch lines is that numerous stitch lines must be utilized if it is desired to cover a substantial portion of the base garment and/or fairly large sized fabric strips may be required. Moreover, attachment of the fabric strips via vertical stitch lines may not produce the desired three-dimensional effect as such attached fabric pieces may lie in an undesired position.